DIY Lawn Care Series - Episode 7 - Stubborn Weed Control

By DoMyOwn staff

Keeping weeds out of your lawn takes time and patience. It also might take multiple applications of herbicides to make sure your yard is weed-free. In this video, Paul tackles the stubborn weeds still growing in his yard after his initial weed control application.

Video Transcript

You know that feeling you get when you're about a month away from summer beach vacation, and time just seems to crawl at a slow snail's pace?

Well, that's how I feel about Spring getting here and getting this yard to come back to life.

But as I already pointed out, there is signs of life returning.

Seeing a lot of green coming up, but it's still mostly weeds. The Bermuda is still pretty dormant because the temperature's still gradually climbing back up, but again I'm starting to see some activity.

We still got a lot of weeds we gotta take care of. As you can see right here along the sidewalk, didn't take care of everything in that first application. Like I said in the weed control application video, and that I would have to re-treat, so that's what this video is going to be about. Re-treating the yard.

Oddly enough I'm seeing a lot of activity in my backyard which is kind of strange because this is all typically mainly shaded. I mean, you can see, you get a little indication of how much shade is back here, because of the jungle. But still I'm seeing some pretty good activity. You got some green popping up here and there, and there. And where the crepe myrtles where, it's turning into a nice disgusting salad bar. So we're going to have to figure out something to do there!

A lot of the moss that was in the backyard, again it's starting to really yellow, and looks like it's starting to die off but I think I'm going to have to hit it harder with another product to really kill it and get it out of here. And, we'll probably make a video on that because that is, that's a beast! That's going to take a lot of work.

Checking with our customer service staff, I have to wait about 30 to 35 days before I could re-apply or do any other kind of treatment, weed control application to my yard. So, that time has come and I'm now going to do that, on my yard because I really want to attack these weeds and try and get rid of them before the grass really starts to green up.

What's going to be different about this application, I'm probably not going to do a full broadcast application over the entire yard, all 6400 square feet. I'm going to concentrate it in some spots.

I'm seeing a lot more weed activity along the sidewalk here. As you can see, we got them sprouting up right there and right along here. Just along this whole sidewalk, I'm starting to see a lot more weeds pop up here, and they're not really yellowing like they were in the rest of the yard where I broadcast sprayed.

Here's some more examples of weeds sprouting up along the sidewalk right there, and right along here.

So the question is, why do weeds typically sprout up along sidewalks and drive ways more so than they do throughout the yard, especially after you've treated with pre and post emergents?

When you got to do your edging on your yard, and try and clean up the sidewalks and the driveway, what happens is, you disturb the dirt. And that pre-emergent breaks down.

The temperature along your sidewalk and drive way tends to be a little bit warmer than it is throughout the entire yard as well.

Also add in the fact that when you water your lawn or it rains, water tends to settle along those areas, your driveway and your sidewalk.

So you bring all of that together and you give the perfect condition for your weeds to continue growing.

I wish they would just die!

Now another reason I'm going to...kind of a spot treatment, I'm still going to broadcast spray in some areas, but the reason I'm not going to do the entire lawn again, it's to benefit the grass. While doing a full broadcast application probably won't destroy my yard, I don't really want to risk it. I mean my Bermuda is still in a dormant state, I did a full broadcast application, I just don't want to risk killing anything that I don't want to kill.

Nothing would thrill me more than to get an aerator, get it in this yard, punch some holes in it, and start fertilizing. But it's just too early to do that.

You see, I really want my grass to be green before I start doing that fun stuff. Aerating and fertilizing, and helping the grass to grow.

Just because the grass isn't green doesn't mean I need to stop my rehab program. There's still a lot that needs to be done. So for that reason, we're going to do our re-app.

Meaning a re-app of our weed control products. So...let's get to it.

I definitely would not call this a spot treatment. I most certainly broadcast sprayed, but I kept it focused in certain areas where I know weeds are going to be really hard to control, like along the sidewalks and driveway.

But again this is exciting to see that a lot of the weeds have started to yellow. SO they're dying, happy about that.

Found this little guy with a little companion over there sprouting up out of the yard. This is in the back where all the moss is.

I swear one minute it is sunny as can be and then the next clouds roll in and it looks like we're going to get flooded out with rain. Welcome to Georgia!

One other thing that I wanted to point out that I've done with this re-application of weed control. I cut the mix rate down significantly. If you read the product label, they'll tell you not only the amount that you should mixed per 1,000 square feet and how much water to add, and all that kind of stuff; they'll also tell you the max amount that you can put down within a 5 to 6 month or even a year period. So going by that on my product labels and consulting with the customer service staff, waiting my 30 to 35 day period, that's what I've done. I cut the mix rate down so that I don't exceed the amount I've already put down, plus this, plus what I'm going to be putting down come Fall time.

Ahh, I just love the smell of herbicides going into Spring!

I'm pretty much done spraying my pre and post emergent. I will wait until we're creeping out of summer and riding into fall before I do a full all over broadcast application again.

The only thing that I'll broadcast spray from this point going forward is most likely the moss that's in the back yard. Because I'm going to use a specialized product for that. And then I'm going to have to put in a lot of elbow grease to get it the heck out of there!

If I do any more weed control application, it most certainly just going to be spot treatments and I'll get them as they sprout up with the rest of the yard.

So there we go! A re-application of our pre and post emergent, to really just try and kill and destroy these weeds! I'm very much anxiously awaiting getting an aerator in this yard, and putting down some fertilizer, and really trying to bring this yard back to its full potential.

As always, if you have questions, you can leave them in the comments section below, call our customer service staff, or shoot them an email.

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